Christmas may be over, but if you're still in the mood for holiday music, this is the place to be! In the last couple weeks before the holiday musical, if students had extra time in class after practicing their songs for that, they'd get to choose from a variety of short reward videos. Lots of students really gravitated towards Pentatonix, Piano Guys, and A Claymation Christmas Celebration (yes, the one from the '80s!). Here are some of their favorites... (Oh, and if you're in the mood for last year's Frozen earworm, remember to check out the "Let It Go" blog post, which has several covers and parodies of the catchy song.)
Last month at Lannoye, we were fortunate to have one of our very own students perform for the 4th and 5th grade classes. One of the 5th graders has been taking violin lessons for a few years now, and she volunteered to do a playing demonstration for her peers. She prepared and performed a piece, and we were all very proud of her and thankful for her musical contribution!
Our in-house visitor followed our visitor from the middle school in October. Mr. Kozlovsky, the 8th grade band director at PCMS, packed up some brass instruments and came to visit us. He and I team-taught the 4th and 5th grade lesson for the day, and he performed pieces on horn, trombone, euphonium, and tuba. He used SmartMusic, a music education software program, and explained a bit how the band team uses it at the middle school.
John Philip Sousa was a very famous American composer who is known as the March King since he wrote so many marches. One of his marches, "Stars and Stripes Forever," was voted by the United States Congress to be the official national march of the United States of America! He also led his own band, and he conducted about 14,000 (yes, that's 14 thousand) concerts throughout his life!
His father played trombone in the United States Marine Band, so Sousa was surrounded by music as a child. He began learning several different instruments at a young age. When he was 13, he tried running away to join a circus band. After that, his dad signed him up as a band helper for the U.S. Marine Band. He stayed with the Marine Band until he was 20, then came back at the age of 25 to conduct The President's Own (the premier military band in the country, as well as the oldest continually active professional musical organization in America since they began in 1798). Throughout his 12 years with The President's Own, Sousa continued to compose, took the group on a couple tours, and recorded with the group. Phonographs were a relatively new invention, and Colombia Phonograph Company wanted to record a military band and sell the recordings. Between 1890 and 1897, The President's Own recorded more than 400 pieces of music.
In 1892, Sousa resigned and started his own band. They toured the world from 1900 to 1910. After World War I (1914-1918), the Sousa Band continued touring and championing the right of music education for all children (PBS). Sousa wasn't only a skilled musician, though - he kept busy in other ways as well. In addition to the 136 marches and 10 operas that he composed, he also wrote 3 novels and an autobiography.
For more information about John Philip Sousa, check out PBS's page on him. You can also check out this public radio article (with audio interview with the director of the New Sousa Band).
In the meantime, I'll leave you with this video of The President's Own performing "Stars and Stripes Forever."
DRUM CARD OPPORTUNITY: Using your own words, email me the most interesting thing you learned from this blog post or the links within it. (Don't just copy and paste.)
Adolphe Sax was the inventor of the saxophone. He was born in Belgium on November 6, 1814. His father was an instrument maker, so Adolphe grew up helping his dad. Adolphe helped make improvements to the bass clarinet before inventing his own family of instruments called the saxhorns (pictured below - spoiler alert: they don't look anything like saxophones). After that, he invented the saxophone.
The saxhorn family. There's a band in Michigan (that a few of my friends have played in) that dresses up in old-time clothes and plays saxhorns. http://www.dodworth.org
If you would like to listen to examples of different saxhorns and saxophones, click on this link to listen to a short NPR interview about Adolphe Sax's birthday!
DRUM CARD OPPORTUNITY: Using your own words, email me the most interesting thing you learned from this blog post or the links within it. (Don't just copy and paste.)
So far this year, we’ve played name games, learned music room rule songs, had a birthday
learning celebration of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and reviewed different
music concepts. If you haven’t been serenaded with any of the rules songs (or
the original tunes they were taken from), ask your child(ren) about the music
rules! You can find more about the rules on the music blog.
“The Star-Spangled Banner” celebrated its 200th birthday on September
14, so we celebrated by learning the history behind it (grades 3-5), reviewing the
official etiquette during its performance (K-5), and practicing that etiquette
while singing the song (K-5). You can learn more about what we learned in class
by checking out the music blog.
Students also learned about
ways to earn DRUM (Demonstrating Respect
and Understanding in Music) cards for individual recognition of
above-and-beyond behaviors. When students earn three DRUM cards, they may
redeem them for a reward (like eating lunch with me or sitting in my chair
during one class). Students can choose to earn DRUM cards by being leaders
within the music classroom, answering questions very well, posing
thought-provoking questions, completing DRUM card opportunities posted on the
music blog (and sent to their school email addresses), or attending/performing
in music performances of any kind outside of the school day. If you’re
interested in attending performances, here are a couple of (free! optional!)
upcoming ones in the community:
Wednesday, October 22 7 pm Pulaski
Area Community Band Concert
PHS
Ripley PAC
Saturday, November 1 7 pm Red
Raider Showcase Concert
PHS
Ripley PAC
If they are able to attend a performance, in order for
me to verify their attendance, I ask that children bring in a program with their name on it and tell me (or write on
the program) something about it: something new they learned, their favorite
part of it, etc.
If you have any questions or
concerns, please contact me. I look forward to meeting you throughout the
school year!
Greetings, everyone, and welcome to the new school year!
One of the first things the entire school learned about in music class this year (after the "gotta-dos" - rules and procedures, the like) was the fact that today (September 14, 2014) is the 200 year anniversary of "The Star-Spangled Banner" being written!
For more facts about the National Anthem, check out the SSB blog post from last year.
The older students watched the video from the Fort McHenry visitor center to gain a greater understanding of the events that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star-Spangled Banner."
They also learned about the exact flag it was written about. With 15 stars and 15 stripes, it looks quite different than the flag we're used to seeing today! The remains of the flag from Fort McHenry have lost a bit over the years...originally measuring 30 feet by 42 feet, it is currently only 34 feet long. Between the wind and giving snippets away as gifts over the years, Mary Pickersgill's masterpiece lost 8 feet from its original length.
DRUM CARD OPPORTUNITY: How wide were the stars in this particular flag? Email me the answer. (Hint: Answer can be found using the link in the paragraph above.)
All grades discussed proper National Anthem etiquette (remove hat, stand facing flag, right hand over heart), then practiced singing along to this video.
In drum corps (pronounced "core"), not only are the participants playing at a high degree of ability, but they're also marching at a high degree of ability. Check out some of the following clips and links, and appreciate the amount of work they put into these performances!
Unfortunately, due to copyright laws, only snippets of shows are typically available on YouTube.
Madison Scouts - "Corps of Brothers - 75 Years of Survival" (2013)
This is a rehearsal run in 2 parts, with lots of drum cam angles since it's a Vic Firth sponsored video. (Vic Firth is a percussion company.)
Part 1:
